Hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 rz

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a Capsicum annuum seed designated 35-1145 RZ, which exhibits a combination of traits including resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruit color. The present invention also relates to a Capsicum annuum plant produced by growing the 35-1145 RZ seed. The invention further relates to methods for producing the pepper cultivar, represented by hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ.

RELATED APPLICATIONS AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/693,701 filed 3 Jul. 2018.

The foregoing applications, and all documents cited therein or duringtheir prosecution (“appln cited documents”) and all documents cited orreferenced in the appln cited documents, and all documents cited orreferenced herein (“herein cited documents”), and all documents cited orreferenced in herein cited documents, together with any manufacturer'sinstructions, descriptions, product specifications, and product sheetsfor any products mentioned herein or in any document incorporated byreference herein, are hereby incorporated herein by reference, and maybe employed in the practice of the invention. More specifically, allreferenced documents are incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual document was specifically and individually indicatedto be incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new hybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum)variety designated 35-1145 RZ. Pepper variety 35-1145 RZ exhibits acombination of traits including resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV)pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P(1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a mediumtime of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruitcolor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sweet pepper plants of the species Capsicum annuum belong to theNightshade family, also known as Solanaceae. It is an annual herbaceousflowering plant species native to South America.

Pepper plants are being cultivated worldwide for their highly nutritiousfruits. In 2007 the acreage for sweet peppers in the United States wasapproximately 54.3 million, with a production of about 700,000 tons(source USDA). The pepper fruits have a high vitamin A and C content, aswell as a high content in dietary fiber. They are also an excellentsource of Calcium. Bell peppers are eaten raw, cooked, immature andmature and may be processed into powders, sauces, and salsas. The fruitsin the unripe stage are usually green, but during ripening they usuallybecome red, although other colors are known also such as: yellow,orange, purple, white, and brown.

There are various ways of cultivating peppers, the most common are: openfield, greenhouse and shade house production. Although the species canbe grown under a wide range of climatic conditions, it performs mostsuccessfully under dry and warm conditions.

The genus of Tobamoviruses is a group of rod shaped viruses capable ofinfecting a wide array of species, including Capsicum species. Pepperinfecting strains of Tobamovirus are subgrouped into ‘pathotypes’,according to their reactions on a set of differential Capsicum sp.hosts. Pathotype P0 en P1 correspond to Tobacco Mosaic virus (TMV)and/or Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV). Pathotypes P (1-2) and P (1-2-3)belong to isolates of Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMoV). Symptoms onsusceptible plants can vary considerably depending on the strain ofvirus, time of infection, and growing conditions. Foliar symptomsinclude mosaic, mottling, leaf distortion and sometimes leaf death anddefoliation. Fruits of infected plants may be undersized, deformed,mottled or blotched and have a rough surface. Infected seedlings areusually stunted and pale. Tobamoviruses are easily transmitted throughcontact and can be transmitted by seed. Especially in greenhousecultivation Tobamoviruses can be a problem due to the higher plantdensity compared to open field cultivation. Tobamoviruses areresponsible for significant economic losses in pepper production areas.Genetic resistance to Tobamoviruses is thus highly desired.

There is a need for a hybrid pepper variety which exhibits a combinationof traits including resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 andP1, resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P(1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a medium time of fruit maturity,and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruit color.

Citation or identification of any document in this application is not anadmission that such document is available as prior art to the presentinvention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There exists a need, therefore, for a hybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum)variety which exhibits a combination traits including resistance toTobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color.

The present invention addresses this need by providing a new type ofpepper (Capsicum annuum) variety, designated 35-1145 RZ. Pepper cultivar35-1145 RZ exhibits a combination of traits including resistance toTobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color.

The present invention provides a seed of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145RZ, a sample of seed of said variety having been deposited with theNational Collections of Industrial, Marine and Food Bacteria (NCIMB) inBucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA, Scotland, UK and have been assigned NCIMBAccession No. 43077.

The invention further relates to a plant grown from said seed of hybridpepper (Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145 RZ.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a pepper plant designated35-1145 RZ, which is a plant grown from seed having been deposited underNCIMB Accession No. 43077.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a pepper (Capsicum annuum)plant, or a part thereof, having all the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of the pepper plant grown from the seed of hybrid peppervariety 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of said hybrid variety having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077.

In another embodiment, the invention provides a pepper plant designated35-1145 RZ, representative seed of which have been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43077, wherein said pepper plant may comprise acombination of traits including resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV)pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P(1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a mediumtime of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruitcolor.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there also is provided partsof a pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant grown from the seed of hybrid peppervariety 35-1145 RZ of the invention, which may include parts of a pepperplant exhibiting a combination of traits including resistance toTobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color, or parts of a pepper plant having anyof the aforementioned resistance(s) and a combination of traitsincluding one or more morphological or physiological characteristicstabulated herein, including parts of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ,wherein the plant parts are involved in sexual reproduction, whichinclude without limitation, a microspore, pollen, an ovary, an ovule, anembryo sac or egg cell and/or wherein the plant parts are suitable forvegetative reproduction, which include, without limitation, a cutting, aroot, a stem, a cell or a protoplast and/or wherein the plant parts aretissue culture of regenerable cells in which the cells or protoplasts ofthe tissue culture are derived from a tissue such as, for example andwithout limitation, a leaf, pollen, an embryo, a cotyledon, a hypocotyl,a meristematic cell, a root, a root tip, an anther, a flower, a seed ora stem. The plants of the invention from which such parts can come frominclude those wherein representative seed of which has been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. 43077 or hybrid pepper variety or cultivardesignated 35-1145 RZ, as well as seed from such a plant, plant parts ofsuch a plant (such as those mentioned herein) and plants from such seedand/or progeny of such a plant, advantageously progeny exhibiting suchcombination of such traits, each of which, is within the scope of theinvention; and such combination of traits.

In a further embodiment there is a plant regenerated from theabove-described plant parts or regenerated from the above-describedtissue culture. Advantageously such a plant may have morphologicaland/or physiological characteristics of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZand/or of a plant grown from seed, representative seed of which havingbeen deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077—including withoutlimitation such plants having all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ and/or of plantgrown from seed, representative seed of which having been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. 43077. Advantageously, such a plantdemonstrates the traits of resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) andpathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a medium time offruit maturity, and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruit color.

Accordingly, in still a further embodiment, there is provided a pepper(Capsicum annuum) plant having all of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of hybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of said hybrid having been deposited underNCIMB Accession No. 43077. Such a plant can be grown from the seeds,regenerated from the above-described plant parts, or regenerated fromthe above-described tissue culture. A pepper (Capsicum annuum) planthaving any of the aforementioned resistance(s), and one or moremorphological or physiological characteristics recited or tabulatedherein, and a pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant advantageously having allof the aforementioned resistances and the characteristics recited andtabulated herein, are preferred. Parts of such plants—such as thoseplant parts above-mentioned—are encompassed by the invention.

In a further aspect, the invention relates to a method of vegetativelypropagating a plant of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ which maycomprise the steps of: (a) collecting tissue capable of being propagatedfrom a plant of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, representative seed ofsaid hybrid pepper variety having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. 43077; and (b) producing a rooted plant from said tissue. Plantsproduced by this method are encompassed by this invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a pepperplant exhibiting a combination of traits which may comprise resistanceto Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color, and having genetic material for soexhibiting the combination of traits; wherein the genetic information isas contained in a plant, representative seed of which having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077. Parts of such plants—such asthose plant parts above-mentioned—are encompassed by the invention.

In one embodiment, there is provided a method for producing a progeny ofhybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145 RZ which may comprisecrossing the plant designated 35-1145 RZ with itself or with anotherpepper plant, harvesting the resultant seed, and growing said seed.

In a further embodiment, a progeny plant is provided which is producedby this method, wherein said progeny exhibits a combination of traitsincluding resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1,resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P(1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a medium time of fruit maturity,and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruit color.

In another embodiment, a progeny plant is provided which is produced bythe above method, wherein said progeny exhibits all the morphologicaland physiological characteristics of the pepper variety designated35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of said variety having been deposited underNCIMB accession No. 43077.

In a further embodiment, there is provided progeny of Capsicum annuumpepper variety 35-1145 RZ produced by sexual or vegetative reproduction,grown from seeds, regenerated from the above-described plant parts, orregenerated from the above-described tissue culture of the peppercultivar or a progeny plant thereof, representative seed of which havingbeen deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077. The progeny may have anyof the aforementioned resistance(s), and one or more morphological orphysiological characteristics recited or tabulated herein, and a progenyplant advantageously having all of the aforementioned resistances andthe characteristics recited and tabulated herein, is preferred.Advantageously, the progeny demonstrate the traits of resistance toTobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color and has genetic material for soexhibiting the combination of traits; wherein the genetic information isas contained in a plant, representative seed of which having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077.

Progeny of the hybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145 RZ may bemodified in one or more other characteristics, in which the modificationis a result of, for example and without limitation, mutagenesis ortransformation with a transgene.

In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method of producing apepper (Capsicum annuum) seed, which may comprise crossing a plant grownfrom the seed of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed ofsaid hybrid variety having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No.43077, with itself or a second pepper plant. The resultant pepper(Capsicum annuum) seed and the pepper plant that is produced by growingsaid pepper seed also forms part of the invention.

The invention further relates to a method of producing a plant of pepperhybrid variety 35-1145 RZ which may comprise at least one new trait, themethod which may comprise introducing a mutation or transgene conferringthe at least one new trait into a plant of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ,wherein a sample of seed of said variety has been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43077. A pepper plant produced by this method also formspart of the invention, as well as the seed that produces said plant.

The invention even further relates to a method of producing a pepperfruit which may comprise: (a) cultivating the hybrid pepper (Capsicumannuum) variety 35-1145 RZ, representative seed of which having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43077, to develop fruit and;(b) collecting a pepper fruit from the plant. Optionally, this methodfurther may comprise (c) packaging the harvested pepper fruit as a freshvegetable. The invention further comprehends the fruit itself,optionally in packed form. The invention also relates to the fruit,wherein said fruit is part of a food product, optionally in processedform.

In another embodiment the invention relates to a method of producing aninbred pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant derived from a plant of theinvention of which representative seed has been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43077, which may comprise of the steps: a) preparing aprogeny plant derived from hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ by crossinga pepper plant exhibiting a combination of traits including resistanceto Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color, representative seed of which have beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077 with itself or a second pepperplant; b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second pepperplant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation;c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed andcrossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or asecond pepper plant; and d) repeating step b) or c) for at least 3 moregenerations to produce an inbred pepper plant derived from the hybridpepper (Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145 RZ.

Further encompassed by the invention is a method of determining thegenotype of a plant of pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145 RZ, asample of seed of which has been deposited under NCIMB Accession No.43077, or a first generation progeny thereof, which may compriseobtaining a sample of nucleic acids from said plant and comparing saidnucleic acids to a sample of nucleic acids obtained from a referenceplant, and detecting a plurality of polymorphisms between the twonucleic acid samples, wherein the plurality of polymorphisms isindicative of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ and/or gives rise to theexpression of any one or more, or all, of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ of theinvention.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to not encompass withinthe invention any previously known product, process of making theproduct, or method of using the product such that Applicants reserve theright and hereby disclose a disclaimer of any previously known product,process, or method. It is further noted that the invention does notintend to encompass within the scope of the invention any product,process, or making of the product or method of using the product, whichdoes not meet the written description and enablement requirements of theUSPTO (35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph) or the EPO (Article 83 of theEPC), such that Applicants reserve the right and hereby disclose adisclaimer of any previously described product, process of making theproduct, or method of using the product.

It is noted that in this disclosure and particularly in the claims,terms such as “comprises”, “comprised”, and “comprising” and the like(e.g., “includes”, “included”, “including”, “contains”, “contained”,“containing”, “has”, “had”, “having”, etc.) can have the meaningascribed to them in US Patent law, i.e., they are open ended terms. Forexample, any method that “comprises,” “has” or “includes” one or moresteps is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps and alsocovers other unlisted steps. Similarly, any plant that “comprises,”“has” or “includes” one or more traits is not limited to possessing onlythose one or more traits and covers other unlisted traits. Similarly,the terms “consists essentially of” and “consisting essentially of” havethe meaning ascribed to them in US Patent law, e.g., they allow forelements not explicitly recited, but exclude elements that are found inthe prior art or that affect a basic or novel characteristic of theinvention. See also MPEP § 2111.03. In addition, the term “about” isused to indicate that a value includes the standard deviation of errorfor the device or method being employed to determine the value.

These and other embodiments are disclosed or are obvious from andencompassed by the following Detailed Description.

Deposit

The Deposit with NCIMB Ltd, Ferguson Building, Craibstone Estate,Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA, UK, on the 18 of June, 2018, under depositAccession No. NCIMB 43077, was made pursuant to the terms of theBudapest Treaty. Upon issuance of a patent, all restrictions upon thedeposit will be removed, and the deposit is intended to meet therequirements of 37 CFR §§ 1.801-1.809. The deposit will be irrevocablyand without restriction or condition released to the public upon theissuance of a patent and for the enforceable life of the patent. Thedeposit will be maintained in the depository for a period of 30 years,or 5 years after the last request, or for the effective life of thepatent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if necessary duringthat period.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides methods and compositions relating to plants,seeds and derivatives of a new hybrid pepper variety herein referred toas hybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145 RZ is a hybrid plantvariety that is uniform and distinct from other such hybrids, and can bestably produced after a cycle of reproduction.

There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, plant withdesirable characteristics. Selection of traits is a very importantaspect of plant breeding. Once desirable traits are identified, theplants with those desirable traits are crossed in order to recombine thedesirable traits and through selection, varieties or parent lines aredeveloped. The goal is to combine in a single variety or hybrid animproved combination of desirable traits from the parent plant. Theseimportant traits may include but are not limited to higher yield, fieldperformance, fruit and agronomic quality such as fruit shape, color andlength, resistance to diseases and insects, and tolerance to drought andheat.

Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plantreproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and thetype of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F1 hybrid cultivar, purelinecultivar, etc.). Popular selection methods commonly include but are notlimited to pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, massselection, and recurrent selection.

The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method.Backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few favorable genes fora highly heritable trait into a desirable cultivar. This approach isused extensively for breeding disease-resistant cultivars. Variousrecurrent selection techniques are used to improve quantitativelyinherited traits controlled by numerous genes. The use of recurrentselection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease of pollination,the frequency of successful hybrids from each pollination, and thenumber of hybrid offspring from each successful cross.

The development of commercial pepper hybrids relates to the developmentof pepper parental lines, the crossing of these lines, and theevaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selectionbreeding methods are used to develop cultivars from breedingpopulations. Breeding programs combine desirable traits from two or morevarieties or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from whichlines are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. Thenew lines are crossed with other lines and the hybrids from thesecrosses are evaluated to determine which have the desirablecharacteristics.

Pedigree breeding is used commonly for the improvement ofself-pollinating crops or inbred lines of cross-pollinating crops. Twoparents which possess favorable, complementary traits are crossed toproduce an F1. An F2 population is produced by selfing one or severalFls or by intercrossing two Fls (sib mating). Selection of the bestindividuals is usually begun in the F2 population; then, beginning inthe F3, the best individuals in the best families are selected.Replicated testing of families, or hybrid combinations involvingindividuals of these families, often follows in the F4 generation toimprove the effectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability.At an advanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F6 and F7), the best lines ormixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potentialrelease as new cultivars.

Mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations ofeither self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variablepopulation of heterozygous individuals is either identified or createdby intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selectedbased on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellentcombining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a newpopulation in which further cycles of selection are continued.

Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for a simplyinherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivaror line that is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to betransferred is called the donor parent. The resulting plant is expectedto have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and thedesirable trait transferred from the donor parent. After the initialcross, individuals possessing the phenotype of the donor parent areselected and repeatedly crossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent.The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrentparent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from thedonor parent.

Other methods of breeding may also relate to the single-seed descentprocedure which refers to planting a segregating population, harvestinga sample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plantthe next generation. When the population has been advanced from the F2to the desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which lines arederived will each trace to different F2 individuals. The number ofplants in a population declines each generation due to failure of someseeds to germinate or some plants to produce at least one seed. As aresult, not all of the F2 plants originally sampled in the populationwill be represented by a progeny when generation advance is completed.

In addition to phenotypic observations, the genotype of a plant can alsobe examined. There are many laboratory-based techniques available forthe analysis, comparison and characterization of plant genotype; thesetechniques include but are not limited to Isozyme Electrophoresis,Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly AmplifiedPolymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction(AP-PCR), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence CharacterizedAmplified Regions (SCARs), Amplified Fragment Length polymorphisms(AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs—which are also referred to asMicrosatellites), and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs).

Isozyme Electrophoresis and RFLPs have been widely used to determinegenetic composition. Shoemaker and Olsen, (Molecular Linkage Map ofSoybean (Glycine max) p 6.131-6.138 in S. J. O'Brien (ed) Genetic Maps:Locus Maps of Complex Genomes, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, ColdSpring Harbor, N.Y., (1993)) developed a molecular genetic linkage mapthat consisted of 25 linkage groups with about 365 RFLP, 11 RAPD, threeclassical markers and four isozyme loci. See also, Shoemaker, R. C.,RFLP Map of Soybean, p 299-309, in Phillips, R. L. and Vasil, I. K.,eds. DNA-Based Markers in Plants, Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, theNetherlands (1994).

SSR technology is currently the most efficient and practical markertechnology; more marker loci can be routinely used and more alleles permarker locus can be found using SSRs in comparison to RFLPs. Forexample, Diwan and Cregan described a highly polymorphic microsatellitelocus in soybean with as many as 26 alleles. (Diwan, N. and Cregan, P.B., Theor. Appl. Genet. 95:22-225, 1997.) SNPs may also be used toidentify the unique genetic composition of the invention and progenyvarieties retaining that unique genetic composition. Various molecularmarker techniques may be used in combination to enhance overallresolution.

Molecular markers, which include markers identified through the use oftechniques such as Isozyme Electrophoresis, RFLPs, RAPDs, AP-PCR, DAF,SCARs, AFLPs, SSRs, and SNPs, may be used in plant breeding. One use ofmolecular markers is Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping. QTL mappingis the use of markers which are known to be closely linked to allelesthat have measurable effects on a quantitative trait. Selection in thebreeding process is based upon the accumulation of markers linked to thepositive effecting alleles and/or the elimination of the markers linkedto the negative effecting alleles from the plant's genome.

Molecular markers can also be used during the breeding process for theselection of qualitative traits. For example, markers closely linked toalleles or markers containing sequences within the actual alleles ofinterest can be used to select plants that contain the alleles ofinterest during a backcrossing breeding program. The markers can also beused to select toward the genome of the recurrent parent and against themarkers of the donor parent. This procedure attempts to minimize theamount of genome from the donor parent that remains in the selectedplants. It can also be used to reduce the number of crosses back to therecurrent parent needed in a backcrossing program. The use of molecularmarkers in the selection process is often called genetic marker enhancedselection or marker-assisted selection. Molecular markers may also beused to identify and exclude certain sources of germplasm as parentalvarieties or ancestors of a plant by providing a means of trackinggenetic profiles through crosses.

Mutation breeding is another method of introducing new traits intopepper varieties. Mutations that occur spontaneously or are artificiallyinduced can be useful sources of variability for a plant breeder. Thegoal of artificial mutagenesis is to increase the rate of mutation for adesired characteristic. Mutation rates can be increased by manydifferent means including temperature, long-term seed storage, tissueculture conditions, radiation (such as X-rays, Gamma rays, neutrons,Beta radiation, or ultraviolet radiation), chemical mutagens (such asbase analogs like 5-bromo-uracil), antibiotics, alkylating agents (suchas sulfur mustards, nitrogen mustards, epoxides, ethyleneamines,sulfates, sulfonates, sulfones, or lactones), azide, hydroxylamine,nitrous acid or acridines. Once a desired trait is observed throughmutagenesis the trait may then be incorporated into existing germplasmby traditional breeding techniques. Details of mutation breeding can befound in Principles of Cultivar Development by Fehr, MacmillanPublishing Company, 1993.

The introduction of a mutation or transgene may involve inducing doublestrand breaks in DNA using zinc-finger nucleases (ZFN), TAL(transcription activator-like) effector nucleases (TALEN), ClusteredRegularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associatednuclease (CRISPR/Cas nuclease), or homing endonucleases that have beenengineered to make double-strand breaks at specific recognitionsequences in the genome of a plant, another organism, or a host cell.

The production of double haploids may also be used for the developmentof homozygous lines in a breeding program. Double haploids are producedby the doubling of a set of chromosomes from a heterozygous plant toproduce a completely homozygous individual. For example, see Wan et al.,Theor. Appl. Genet., 77:889-892, 1989.

The pepper plant of the invention may be arrived at through crossing ofinbred lines or through selection of the disclosed desirablecharacteristics by any of the breeding the selection methods mentionedabove.

The breeding process which resulted in hybrid pepper (Capsicum annuum)variety 35-1145 RZ started by developing a mother line through 6generations of selection and inbreeding, which resulted in a line ofgroup 32521PA8462. The father line is the result of the doubled haploidtechnique, resulting in a line of group 8214030PAN137. All selectionsteps of both the mother and father line were done in The Netherlandsunder glass house conditions and the doubled haploid technique understandard laboratory conditions. The F1 progeny of mother line32521PA8462 and father line 8214030PAN137 results in hybrid peppervariety 35-1145 RZ.

In one embodiment, a plant of the invention has all the morphologicaland physiological characteristics of pepper (Capsicum annuum) variety35-1145 RZ. These characteristics of a pepper plant of the invention,e.g. variety 35-1145 RZ, are summarized in Table 1. In table 2 the maindifferences with its closest publicly available variety are given.

The information presented in tables 1 and 2 was determined in trialexperiments in accordance with official Dutch plant variety registrationauthorities (Naktuinbouw). The terminology used in these tables is theofficial terminology as used by the Dutch plant variety registrationauthorities (Naktuinbouw) as of the filing date, and is thus clear for aperson skilled in the art. The terminology and testing protocol are inaccordance with the official guidelines European Union Community PlantVariety Office, more specific the Protocol for Distinctness Uniformityand Stability Tests for Capsicum annuum L. (Technical Protocol 076),which is publicly available at:http://cpvo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/capsicum_annuum_2.1.pdf.

As used herein, resistance to Tobamovirus pathotypes P0, P1, P (1-2), P(1-2-3) and P (1-2-3-4) may be defined as the ability of the plant togrow normally after infection with Tobamovirus pathotypes P0, P1, P(1-2), P (1-2-3) or P (1-2-3-4). Screening for Tobamovirus resistance isdone at first true leaf stage. The plant is inoculated by rubbing thecotyledons with a virus suspension. Identification of susceptibility isusually done after 10 days. Resistant plants are completely free ofsymptoms. Resistance to Tobamovirus different pathotypes is conferred by5 alleles located on the “L” locus. Genotype reactions of the different“L” alleles are e.g. described in the Protocol for DistinctnessUniformity and Stability Tests for Capsicum annuum L. (TechnicalProtocol 076) on page 25, which is publicly available at:http://cpvo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/capsicum_annuum_2.1.pdf.As used herein, time of maturity is scored by visual observation ofcolor changing of the pepper fruits, scored 2-3 times per week tillfruits on 50% of the plants have changed color. The time of maturity isdefined on a scale from 1 to 9. “1” being very early, comparable tovarieties Koral, Macska sarga and Madison. “3” being early, comparableto varieties Feller, Lady Bell, and Topgirl. “5” Being medium,comparable to varieties Lamuyo, Latino, and Sonar. “7” being late,comparable to varieties Daniel, Doux d'Espagne. “9” being very late,comparable to varieties Cancun and California Wonder. Plants of hybridpepper variety 35-1145 RZ show a “5” medium maturation time. The skilledperson is familiar with using such a scale for determining maturationtime.

As used herein, the mature fruit color is assessed at the mature stageof the fruit, after the time of the first color change in the pepperfruits. Fruit color can be compared to example varieties. GoldenCalwonder and Heldor are both pepper varieties that have yellow coloredmature fruits. Hybrid pepper 35-1144 RZ has yellow mature fruits.

As used herein the intensity of the fruit color at maturity is just asthe mature fruit color, assessed at the mature stage of the fruits,after the time of the first color change in the pepper fruits. Themature fruit color intensity is visually assessed, while avoiding directsunlight and calibrated with example varieties. The intensity of themature fruit color of the pepper fruits of 35-1144 RZ was scored as “3”light on a scale of “1” very light to “9” very dark. Both the fruitcolor at maturity and the intensity of the fruit color at maturity aredescribed in official guidelines of the European Union Community PlantVariety Office, more specific the Protocol for Distinctness Uniformityand Stability Tests for Capsicum annuum L. (Technical Protocol 076),which is publicly available at:http://cpvo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/capsicum_annuum_20.1.pdf.A person skilled in the art is familiar with using these data todetermine the fruit color at maturity and the intensity of the fruitcolor at maturity.

TABLE 1 Physiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid pepper(Capsicum annuum) variety 35-1145. Variety description information for35-1145 General: Type: Sweet blocky bell pepper Usage: Fresh market Typeof culture: Glasshouse Plant: Anthocyanin coloration of hypocotyls:Present Shortened internode (in upper part): Absent Height: Medium-tall(6) Flower: anthocyanin coloration in anther Present Fruit: Color(before maturity): Green Intensity of color (before maturity): Medium(6) Length: Medium (5) Diameter: Broad (7) Shape in longitudinalsection: Square Color (at maturity): Yellow Intensity of colour (atmaturity): Light (3) Number of locules: Equally three and four Capsaicinin placenta: Absent Time of maturity: Medium (5) Disease and pestresistances: Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotype P0: Resistant Tobamovirus (TMV)pathotype P1: Resistant Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2): ResistantTobamovirus (TMMoV) pathotype P (1-2-3): Resistant Potato Virus Y (PVY)pathotype P (0): Susceptible Potato Virus Y (PVY) pathotype P (1):Susceptible Potato Virus Y (PVY) pathotype P(1-2): Susceptible

TABLE 2 Comparison of 35-1145 RZ with varieties Baselga RZ and HattrickRZ Characteristics State of Denomination in which the expression Stateof of similar similar variety of Baselga RZ/ expression variety isdifferent Hattrick RZ of 35-1145 RZ Baselga RZ Crop openness More opencrop More closed crop Baselga RZ Earliness Earlier Later Hattrick RZPlant length Shorter Taller Hattrick RZ Fruit mature Darker yellowLighter yellow color intensity

In an embodiment, the invention relates to pepper plants that has allthe morphological and physiological characteristics of the invention andhave acquired said characteristics by introduction of the geneticinformation that is responsible for the characteristics from a suitablesource, either by conventional breeding, or genetic modification, inparticular by cisgenesis or transgenesis. Cisgenesis is geneticmodification of plants with a natural gene, coding for an (agricultural)trait, from the crop plant itself or from a sexually compatible donorplant. Transgenesis is genetic modification of a plant with a gene froma non-crossable species or a synthetic gene.

Just as useful traits that can be introduced into a hybrid bybackcrossing the trait into one or both parents, useful traits can beintroduced directly into the plant of the invention, being a plant ofhybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, by genetic transformation techniques;and, such plants of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ that haveadditional genetic information introduced into the genome or thatexpress additional traits by having the DNA coding there for introducedinto the genome via transformation techniques, are within the ambit ofthe invention, as well as uses of such plants, and the making of suchplants.

Genetic transformation may therefore be used to insert a selectedtransgene into the plant of the invention, being a plant of hybridpepper variety 35-1145 RZ or may, alternatively, be used for thepreparation of transgenes which can be introduced by backcrossing.Methods for the transformation of plants, including pepper, are wellknown to those of skill in the art.

Vectors used for the transformation of pepper cells are not limited solong as the vector can express an inserted DNA in the cells. Forexample, vectors which may comprise promoters for constitutive geneexpression in pepper cells (e.g., cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter)and promoters inducible by exogenous stimuli can be used. Examples ofsuitable vectors include pBI binary vector. The “pepper cell” into whichthe vector is to be introduced includes various forms of pepper cells,such as cultured cell suspensions, protoplasts, leaf sections, andcallus. A vector can be introduced into pepper cells by known methods,such as the polyethylene glycol method, polycation method,electroporation, Agrobacterium-mediated transfer, particle bombardmentand direct DNA uptake by protoplasts. To effect transformation byelectroporation, one may employ either friable tissues, such as asuspension culture of cells or embryogenic callus or alternatively onemay transform immature embryos or other organized tissue directly. Inthis technique, one would partially degrade the cell walls of the chosencells by exposing them to pectin-degrading enzymes (pectolyases) ormechanically wound tissues in a controlled manner.

A particularly efficient method for delivering transforming DNA segmentsto plant cells is microprojectile bombardment. In this method, particlesare coated with nucleic acids and delivered into cells by a propellingforce. Exemplary particles include those which may be comprised oftungsten, platinum, and preferably, gold. For the bombardment, cells insuspension are concentrated on filters or solid culture medium.Alternatively, immature embryos or other target cells may be arranged onsolid culture medium. The cells to be bombarded are positioned at anappropriate distance below the macroprojectile stopping plate. Anillustrative embodiment of a method for delivering DNA into plant cellsby acceleration is the Biolistics Particle Delivery System, which can beused to propel particles coated with DNA or cells through a screen, suchas a stainless steel or Nytex screen, onto a surface covered with targetpepper cells. The screen disperses the particles so that they are notdelivered to the recipient cells in large aggregates. It is believedthat a screen intervening between the projectile apparatus and the cellsto be bombarded reduces the size of projectiles aggregate and maycontribute to a higher frequency of transformation by reducing thedamage inflicted on the recipient cells by projectiles that are toolarge. Microprojectile bombardment techniques are widely applicable, andmay be used to transform virtually any plant species, including a plantof pepper variety 35-1145 RZ.

Agrobacterium-mediated transfer is another widely applicable system forintroducing gene loci into plant cells. An advantage of the technique isthat DNA can be introduced into whole plant tissues, thereby bypassingthe need for regeneration of an intact plant from a protoplast.Agrobacterium transformation vectors are capable of replication in E.coli as well as Agrobacterium, allowing for convenient manipulations.Moreover, advances in vectors for Agrobacterium-mediated gene transferhave improved the arrangement of genes and restriction sites in thevectors to facilitate the construction of vectors capable of expressingvarious polypeptide coding genes. The vectors have convenientmulti-linker regions flanked by a promoter and a polyadenylation sitefor direct expression of inserted polypeptide coding genes.Additionally, Agrobacterium containing both armed and disarmed Ti genescan be used for transformation. In those plant strains whereAgrobacterium-mediated transformation is efficient, it is the method ofchoice because of the facile and defined nature of the gene locustransfer. The use of Agrobacterium-mediated plant integrating vectors tointroduce DNA into plant cells, including pepper plant cells, is wellknown in the art (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,250,560 and 5,563,055).

Transformation of plant protoplasts also can be achieved using methodsbased on calcium phosphate precipitation, polyethylene glycol treatment,electroporation, and combinations of these treatments.

A number of promoters have utility for plant gene expression for anygene of interest including but not limited to selectable markers,scoreable markers, genes for pest tolerance, disease resistance,nutritional enhancements and any other gene of agronomic interest.Examples of constitutive promoters useful for pepper plant geneexpression include, but are not limited to, the cauliflower mosaic virus(CaMV) P-35S promoter, a tandemly duplicated version of the CaMV 35Spromoter, the enhanced 35S promoter (P-e35S), the nopaline synthasepromoter, the octopine synthase promoter, the figwort mosaic virus(P-FMV) promoter (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,619), an enhanced version ofthe FMV promoter (P-eFMV) where the promoter sequence of P-FMV isduplicated in tandem, the cauliflower mosaic virus 19S promoter, asugarcane bacilliform virus promoter, a Commelina yellow mottle viruspromoter, the promoter for the thylakoid membrane proteins from pepper(psaD, psaF, psaE, PC, FNR, atpC, atpD, cab, rbcS) (see U.S. Pat. No.7,161,061), the CAB-1 promoter from pepper (see U.S. Pat. No.7,663,027), the promoter from maize prolamin seed storage protein (seeU.S. Pat. No. 7,119,255), and other plant DNA virus promoters known toexpress in plant cells. A variety of plant gene promoters that areregulated in response to environmental, hormonal, chemical, and/ordevelopmental signals can be used for expression of an operably linkedgene in plant cells, including promoters regulated by (1) heat, (2)light (e.g., pea rbcS-3A promoter, maize rbcS promoter, or chlorophylla/b-binding protein promoter), (3) hormones, such as abscisic acid, (4)wounding (e.g., wunl, or (5) chemicals such as methyl jasmonate,salicylic acid, or Safener. It may also be advantageous to employorgan-specific promoters.

Exemplary nucleic acids which may be introduced to the pepper variety ofthis invention include, for example, DNA sequences or genes from anotherspecies, or even genes or sequences which originate with or are presentin pepper species, but are incorporated into recipient cells by geneticengineering methods rather than classical reproduction or breedingtechniques. However, the term “exogenous” is also intended to refer togenes that are not normally present in the cell being transformed, orperhaps simply not present in the form, structure, etc., as found in thetransforming DNA segment or gene, or genes which are normally presentand that one desires to express in a manner that differs from thenatural expression pattern, e.g., to over-express. Thus, the term“exogenous” gene or DNA is intended to refer to any gene or DNA segmentthat is introduced into a recipient cell, regardless of whether asimilar gene may already be present in such a cell. The type of DNAincluded in the exogenous DNA can include DNA which is already presentin the plant cell, DNA from another plant, DNA from a differentorganism, or a DNA generated externally, such as a DNA sequencecontaining an antisense message of a gene, or a DNA sequence encoding asynthetic or modified version of a gene.

Many hundreds if not thousands of different genes are known and couldpotentially be introduced into a plant of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ.Non-limiting examples of particular genes and corresponding phenotypesone may choose to introduce into a pepper plant include one or moregenes for insect tolerance, pest tolerance such as genes for fungaldisease control, herbicide tolerance, and genes for quality improvementssuch as yield, nutritional enhancements, environmental or stresstolerances, or any desirable changes in plant physiology, growth,development, morphology or plant product(s).

Alternatively, the DNA coding sequences can affect these phenotypes byencoding a non-translatable RNA molecule that causes the targetedinhibition of expression of an endogenous gene, for example viaantisense- or cosuppression-mediated mechanisms. The RNA could also be acatalytic RNA molecule (i.e., a ribozyme) engineered to cleave a desiredendogenous mRNA product. Thus, any gene which produces a protein or mRNAwhich expresses a phenotype or morphology change of interest is usefulfor the practice of the present invention. (See also U.S. Pat. No.7,576,262, “Modified gene-silencing RNA and uses thereof.”).

U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,230,158, 7,122,720, 7,081,363, 6,734,341, 6,503,732,6,392,121, 6,087,560, 5,981,181, 5,977,060, 5,608,146, 5,516,667, eachof which, and all documents cited therein are hereby incorporated hereinby reference, consistent with the above INCORPORATION BY REFERENCEsection, are additionally cited as examples of U.S. Patents that mayconcern transformed pepper and/or methods of transforming pepper orpepper plant cells, and techniques from these US Patents, as well aspromoters, vectors, etc., may be employed in the practice of thisinvention to introduce exogenous nucleic acid sequence(s) into a plantof pepper variety 35-1145 RZ (or cells thereof), and exemplify someexogenous nucleic acid sequence(s) which can be introduced into a plantof pepper variety 35-1145 RZ (or cells thereof) of the invention, aswell as techniques, promoters, vectors etc., to thereby obtain furtherplants of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, plant parts and cells, seeds, otherpropagation material harvestable parts of these plants, etc. of theinvention, e.g. tissue culture, including a cell or protoplast, such asan embryo, meristem, cotyledon, pollen, leaf, anther, root, root tip,pistil, flower, seed or stalk.

The invention further relates to propagation material for producingplants of the invention. Such propagation material may comprise interalia seeds of the claimed plant and parts of the plant that are involvedin sexual reproduction. Such parts are for example selected from thegroup consisting of seeds, microspores, pollen, ovaries, ovules, embryosacs and egg cells. In addition, the invention relates to propagationmaterial which may comprise parts of the plant that are suitable forvegetative reproduction, for example cuttings, roots, stems, cells,protoplasts.

According to a further aspect thereof the propagation material of theinvention may comprise a tissue culture of the claimed plant. The tissueculture may comprise regenerable cells. Such tissue culture can bederived from leaves, pollen, embryos, cotyledon, hypocotyls,meristematic cells, roots, root tips, anthers, flowers, seeds and stems.Tissue culture methodologies relating to pepper plants are well known inthe art (See generally U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,642,423 and 7,696,416). In vitroregeneration of Solanaceae cultivars is further described in Schuelter AR et al. Genet Mol Res. 2009 Aug. 11; 8(3):963-75, In vitro regenerationof cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum, Solanaceae) cultivars for commercialproduction. In vitro flowering and fruiting in the Capsicum family isdescribed in Brent and Galletta, HORTSCIENCE 30(1):130-132. 1995, InVitro Flowering and Fruiting of Capsicum fruitescens L. Further aspectsof in vitro propagation of pepper plant related families are describedin Zelcer et al. Plant Cell Reports, Volume 2, Number 5, 252-254, Shootregeneration in root cultures of Solanaceae; S. Shrivastava, P. K.Dubey, International Journal of Biotechnology & Biochemistry, January,2007, In-vitro callus induction and shoot regeneration in Withaniasomnifera Dunal; Sanatombi K., G. J. Sharma, Not. Bot. Hort. Agrobot.Cluj, 2007 Volume 35, Issue 1, MICROPROPAGATION OF CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.;Prakash A H et al. J. Biosci., Vol. 22, Number 3, June 1997, pp 339-344,Plant regeneration from protoplasts of Capsicum annuum L. and Agrawal etal. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture Volume 16, Number 1, 47-55,Plant regeneration in tissue cultures of pepper (Capsicum annuum L. cv.Mathania).

Also, the invention comprehends methods for producing a seed of a35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plant which may comprise (a) crossing a plantof pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, representative seed of which having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43077, with a second pepperplant, and (b) allowing seed of a hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derivedpepper plant form (e.g., by allowing the plant from the cross to grow toproducing seed). Such a method can further comprise (c) selfing theplant grown from said hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed orcrossing it to a second pepper plant to yield additional hybrid variety35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed, (d) growing said additional hybridvariety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed of step (c) to yield additional35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plants, and (e) repeating the crossing andgrowing of steps of (c) and (d) for an additional 3-10 generations tofurther generate 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plants, and (f) allowing seedof hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plant to form.Advantageously, a 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plant has at least thefollowing characteristics: resistance to Tobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus (PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) andpathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tall plant height, a medium time offruit maturity, and blocky fruits with light yellow mature fruit color.

The invention further relates to a pepper seed produced by the abovedescribed methods, and to a pepper plant grown from said pepper seed.

Backcrossing one of the parents of a hybrid can also be used to improvean inbred plant. Backcrossing transfers a specific desirable trait fromone inbred or non-inbred source to an inbred that lacks that trait. Thiscan be accomplished, for example, by first crossing a superior inbred(A) (recurrent parent) to a donor inbred (non-recurrent parent), whichcarries the appropriate locus or loci for the trait in question. Theprogeny of this cross are then mated back to the superior recurrentparent (A) followed by selection in the resultant progeny for thedesired trait to be transferred from the non-recurrent parent. Afterfive or more backcross generations with selection for the desired trait,the progeny are heterozygous for loci controlling the characteristicbeing transferred, but are like the superior parent for most or almostall other loci. The last backcross generation would be selfed to givepure breeding progeny for the trait being transferred.

The invention additionally provides a method of introducing a desiredtrait into a plant of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ by reversebreeding (See generally U.S. Pat. No. 8,242,327), which may comprise thefollowing steps: (a) allowing the hybrid pepper plant to produce haploidcells, while suppressing recombination, (b) growing haploid cells intodiploid plants, (c) selecting those homozygous plants which togetherconstitute the hybrid variety of the invention as parent plants for thesaid hybrid, (d) crossing one of the said parent plants with a planthaving the desired trait, (e) crossing the selected F1 progeny with saidparent plant, to produce backcross progeny; (f) selecting backcrossprogeny which may comprise the desired trait and the physiological andmorphological characteristic of the parent plant; and, optionally, (g)repeating steps (e) and (f) one or more times in succession to produceselected fourth or higher backcross progeny that comprise the desiredtrait and all of the physiological and morphological characteristics ofsaid parent plant, (h) crossing the backcrossed parent plant having theadded desired trait with the other parent plant obtained after reversebreeding to obtain a plant which may comprise the desired trait and allof the physiological and morphological characteristics of a plant ofpepper variety 35-1145 RZ.

The invention further involves a method of determining the genotype of aplant of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, representative seed of which hasbeen deposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43077, or a firstgeneration progeny thereof, which may comprise obtaining a sample ofnucleic acids from said plant and detecting in said nucleic acids aplurality of polymorphisms. This method can additionally comprise thestep of storing the results of detecting the plurality of polymorphismson a computer readable medium. The plurality of polymorphisms isindicative of and/or gives rise to the expression of the morphologicaland physiological characteristics of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ.

There are various ways of obtaining genotype data from a nucleic acidsample. Genotype data can be gathered which is specific for certainphenotypic traits (e.g. gene sequences), but also patterns of randomgenetic variation can be obtained to construct a so-called DNAfingerprint. Depending on the technique used a fingerprint can beobtained that is unique for hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ. Obtaininga unique DNA fingerprint depends on the genetic variation present in avariety and the sensitivity of the fingerprinting technique. A techniqueknown in the art to provide a good fingerprint profile is called AFLPfingerprinting technique (See generally U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,215), butthere are many other marker based techniques, such as RFLP (orRestriction fragment length polymorphism), SSLP (or Simple sequencelength polymorphism), RAPD (or Random amplification of polymorphic DNA)VNTR (or Variable number tandem repeat), Microsatellite polymorphism,SSR (or Simple sequence repeat), STR (or Short tandem repeat), SFP (orSingle feature polymorphism) DArT (or Diversity Arrays Technology), RADmarkers (or Restriction site associated DNA markers) (e.g. Baird et al.PloS One Vol. 3 e3376, 2008; Semagn et al. African Journal ofBiotechnology Vol. 5 number 25 pp. 2540-2568, 29 December, 2006).Nowadays, sequence-based methods are utilising Single NucleotidePolymorphisms (SNPs) that are randomly distributed across genomes, as acommon tool for genotyping (e.g. Elshire et al. PloS One Vol. 6: e19379,2011; Poland et al. PloS One Vol. 7: e32253; Truong et al. PLoS One Vol.7 number 5: e37565, 2012). The polymorphism revealed by these techniquescan be used to establish links between genotype and phenotype. Thepolymorphisms can thus be used to predict or identify certain phenotypiccharacteristics, individuals, or even species. The polymorphisms aregenerally called markers. It is common practice for the skilled artisanto apply molecular DNA techniques for generating polymorphisms andcreating markers.

As mentioned earlier, known genes and alleles can be used as markers toindentify certain phenotypic characteristics, individuals, or evenspecies. The Tobamovirus resistance alleles of the L gene present inhybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ can be used as such (e.g. Tomita et al.MPMI, Vol. 24 Number 1, 2011, pp. 108-117). These markers can alsoassist in identifying polymorphism for the plants of the invention.

The polymorphisms of this invention may be provided in a variety ofmediums to facilitate use, e.g. a database or computer readable medium,which may also contain descriptive annotations in a form that allows askilled artisan to examine or query the polymorphisms and obtain usefulinformation.

As used herein “database” refers to any representation of retrievablecollected data including computer files such as text files, databasefiles, spreadsheet files and image files, printed tabulations andgraphical representations and combinations of digital and image datacollections. In a preferred aspect of the invention, “database” refersto a memory system that can store computer searchable information.

As used herein, “computer readable media” refers to any medium that maybe read and accessed directly by a computer. Such media include, but arenot limited to: magnetic storage media, such as floppy discs, hard disc,storage medium and magnetic tape; optical storage media such as CD-ROM;electrical storage media such as RAM, DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, ROM; and PROMs(EPROM, EEPROM, Flash EPROM), and hybrids of these categories such asmagnetic/optical storage media. A skilled artisan can readily appreciatehow any of the presently known computer readable mediums can be used tocreate a manufacture which may comprise computer readable medium havingrecorded thereon a polymorphism of the present invention.

As used herein, “recorded” refers to the result of a process for storinginformation in a retrievable database or computer readable medium. Forinstance, a skilled artisan can readily adopt any of the presently knownmethods for recording information on computer readable medium togenerate media which may comprise the polymorphisms of the presentinvention. A variety of data storage structures are available to askilled artisan for creating a computer readable medium where the choiceof the data storage structure will generally be based on the meanschosen to access the stored information. In addition, a variety of dataprocessor programs and formats may be used to store the polymorphisms ofthe present invention on computer readable medium.

The present invention further provides systems, particularlycomputer-based systems, which contain the polymorphisms describedherein. Such systems are designed to identify the polymorphisms of thisinvention. As used herein, “a computer-based system” refers to thehardware, software and memory used to analyze the polymorphisms. Askilled artisan can readily appreciate that any one of the currentlyavailable computer-based system are suitable for use in the presentinvention.

The invention is further described by the following numbered paragraphs:

1. A seed of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of saidhybrid variety having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077.

2. A plant grown from the seed of paragraph 1.

3. The pepper plant of paragraph 2, which is a plant grown from seedhaving been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077.

4. A pepper plant, or a part thereof, having all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of the pepper plant of paragraph 2.

5. A part of the plant of paragraph 2, wherein said part is amicrospore, pollen, an ovary, an ovule, an embryo sac, an egg cell, acutting, a root, a stem, a cell or a protoplast.

6. A tissue culture of regenerable cells or protoplasts from the plantpart of paragraph 5.

7. The tissue culture of paragraph 6, wherein said cells or protoplastsof the tissue culture are derived from a leaf, pollen, an embryo, acotyledon, a hypocotyl, a meristematic cell, a root, a root tip, ananther, a flower, a seed or a stem.

8. A pepper plant regenerated from the tissue culture of paragraph 6,wherein the regenerated plant expresses all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, asample of seed of said hybrid having been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43077.

9. A method of vegetatively propagating a plant of hybrid pepper variety35-1145 RZ comprising the steps of: (a) collecting tissue capable ofbeing propagated from a plant of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ,representative seed of said hybrid pepper variety having been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. 43077; and (b) producing a rooted plant fromsaid tissue.

10. A method for producing a progeny plant of pepper variety 35-1145 RZ,comprising crossing a plant designated 35-1145 RZ with itself or withanother pepper plant, harvesting the resultant seed, and growing saidseed.

11. A progeny plant produced by the method of paragraph 10, wherein saidprogeny plant exhibits a combination of traits including resistance toTobamovirus (TMV) pathotypes P0 and P1, resistance to Tobamovirus(PMMoV) pathotype P (1-2) and pathotype P (1-2-3), a medium to tallplant height, a medium time of fruit maturity, and blocky fruits withlight yellow mature fruit color.

12. A progeny plant produced by the method of paragraph 10, wherein saidprogeny exhibits all the morphological and physiological characteristicsof the pepper variety designated 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of saidvariety having been deposited under NCIMB accession No. 43077.

13. The progeny plant of paragraph 11, wherein said progeny plant ismodified in one or more other characteristics.

14. The progeny plant of paragraph 13, wherein the modification iseffected by mutagenesis.

15. The progeny plant of paragraph 13, wherein the modification iseffected by transformation with a transgene.

16. A method of producing a pepper seed, comprising crossing the plantof paragraph 2 with itself or a second pepper plant.

17. A pepper seed produced by the method of paragraph 16.

18. A pepper plant grown from the seed of paragraph 16.

19. A method for producing a seed of a hybrid pepper variety 35-1145RZ-derived pepper plant comprising the steps of: (a) crossing a pepperplant of hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ, representative seed of which havingbeen deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077, with a second pepperplant or with itself; and (b) allowing seed of a hybrid variety 35-1145RZ-derived pepper plant to form.

20. The method of paragraph 19, further comprising the steps of: (c)selfing the plant grown from said hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derivedpepper seed or crossing it to a second pepper plant to yield additionalhybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed; (d) growing saidadditional hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed of step (c) toyield additional 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plants; and (e) repeating thecrossing and growing steps of (c) and (d) for an additional 3-10generations to generate further 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plants, and(f) allowing seed of a hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plant toform.

21. A pepper seed produced by the method of paragraph 19 or 20.

22. A pepper plant grown from the seed of paragraph 21.

23. A method of producing a plant of pepper hybrid variety 35-1145 RZcomprising at least one new trait, the method comprising introducing amutation or transgene conferring the at least one new trait into a plantof hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, wherein a sample of seed of saidvariety has been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077.

24. The pepper plant produced by the method of paragraph 23.

25. A method of producing a pepper fruit comprising: (a) obtaining thepepper plant according to paragraph 2, wherein the pepper plant has beencultivated to develop fruit; and (b) collecting a pepper fruit from thepepper plant.

26. The method of paragraph 25 further comprising packaging theharvested pepper fruit as a fresh vegetable.

27. A fruit produced by the method of paragraph 25.

28. The fruit of paragraph 27, wherein the fruit is part of a foodproduct, optionally in processed form.

29. A method of determining the genotype of a plant of hybrid peppervariety 35-1145 RZ, representative seed of which has been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. 43077, or a first generation progeny thereof,comprising obtaining a sample of nucleic acids from said plant andcomparing said nucleic acids to a sample of nucleic acids obtained froma reference plant, and detecting a plurality of polymorphisms betweenthe two nucleic acid samples, wherein the plurality of polymorphisms isindicative of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ and/or gives rise to theexpression of any one or more, or all, of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145.

30. A plant of pepper hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ comprising a transgeneconferring a desired trait, a sample of seed of said variety has beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077.

31. A seed that produces the plant of paragraph 30.

Having thus described in detail preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to belimited to particular details set forth in the above description as manyapparent variations thereof are possible without departing from thespirit or scope of the present invention.

1. A seed of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of saidhybrid variety having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No.
 43077. 2.A plant grown from the seed of claim
 1. 3. A pepper plant, or a partthereof, having all the physiological and morphological characteristicsof the pepper plant of claim
 2. 4. A part of the plant of claim 2,wherein said part is a microspore, pollen, an ovary, an ovule, an embryosac, an egg cell, a cutting, a root, a stem, a cell or a protoplast. 5.A tissue culture of regenerable cells or protoplasts from the plant partof claim
 4. 6. The tissue culture as claimed in claim 5, wherein saidcells or protoplasts of the tissue culture are derived from a leaf,pollen, an embryo, a cotyledon, a hypocotyl, a meristematic cell, aroot, a root tip, an anther, a flower, a seed or a stem.
 7. A pepperplant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 5, wherein theregenerated plant expresses all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed ofsaid hybrid having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No.
 43077. 8. Amethod of vegetatively propagating a plant of hybrid pepper variety35-1145 RZ comprising the steps of: (a) collecting tissue capable ofbeing propagated from a pepper plant of claim 2, and (b) producing arooted plant from said tissue.
 9. A method for producing a progeny plantof pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, comprising crossing a pepper plant ofclaim 2 with itself or with another pepper plant, harvesting theresultant seed, and growing said seed.
 10. A progeny plant produced bythe method of claim 9, wherein said progeny exhibits all themorphological and physiological characteristics of the pepper varietydesignated 35-1145 RZ, a sample of seed of said variety having beendeposited under NCIMB accession No.
 43077. 11. The progeny plant asclaimed in claim 10, wherein said progeny plant is modified in one ormore other characteristics.
 12. The progeny plant as claimed in claim11, wherein the modification is effected by mutagenesis.
 13. The progenyplant as claimed in claim 11, wherein the modification is effected bytransformation with a transgene.
 14. A method of producing a pepperseed, comprising crossing the plant of claim 2, with itself or a secondpepper plant.
 15. A pepper seed produced by the method of claim
 14. 16.A pepper plant grown from the seed as claimed in claim
 15. 17. A methodfor producing a seed of a hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ-derivedpepper plant comprising the steps of: (a) crossing a pepper plant ofclaim 2, with a second pepper plant or with itself; and (b) allowingseed of a hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plant to form. 18.The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of: (c) selfing theplant grown from said hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed orcrossing it to a second pepper plant to yield additional hybrid variety35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed; (d) growing said additional hybridvariety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper seed of step (c) to yield additional35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plants; and (e) repeating the crossing andgrowing steps of (c) and (d) for an additional 3-10 generations togenerate further 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plants, and (f) allowing seedof a hybrid variety 35-1145 RZ-derived pepper plant to form.
 19. Amethod of producing a plant of pepper hybrid variety 35-1145 RZcomprising at least one new trait, the method comprising introducing amutation or transgene conferring the at least one new trait into a plantof hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, wherein a sample of seed of saidvariety has been deposited under NCIMB Accession No.
 43077. 20. A methodof producing a pepper fruit comprising: (a) obtaining the pepper plantaccording to claim 2, wherein the pepper plant has been cultivated todevelop fruit; and (b) collecting a pepper fruit from the pepper plant.21. The method of claim 20 further comprising packaging the harvestedpepper fruit as a fresh vegetable.
 22. A method of determining thegenotype of a plant of hybrid pepper variety 35-1145 RZ, representativeseed of which has been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43077, or afirst generation progeny thereof, comprising obtaining a sample ofnucleic acids from said plant and comparing said nucleic acids to asample of nucleic acids obtained from a reference plant, and detecting aplurality of polymorphisms between the two nucleic acid samples, whereinthe plurality of polymorphisms is indicative of hybrid pepper variety35-1145 RZ and/or gives rise to the expression of any one or more, orall, of the morphological and physiological characteristics of hybridpepper variety 35-1145 RZ of claim
 2. 23. A plant of pepper hybridvariety 35-1145 RZ comprising a transgene conferring a desired trait, asample of seed of said variety has been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo.
 43077. 24. A seed that produces the plant of claim 23.